As was the case over the summer with Adventures on the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch, I have been recently revisiting A Wine and Food Guide to the Loire by Jacqueline Friedrich. My studies currently have me the land of Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc and I have been reminded by both Friedrich’s elegant and descriptive writing and the wines I have been sampling over the past couple of weeks that the Loire Valley is home to some of the most delicious and expressive wines in all of France. And as I continue to remind myself of the relatively unknown wine regions of the world, one such region is the curious enclave located to the west of Beaujolais, but classified as a part of the Loire Valley – the Cotes du Forez.

With its vineyards closer to the Burgundy than the heart of the Loire Valley, the Cotes du Forez is a region often overlooked by both lovers of wines of the Loire Valley and Gamay-heads who worship at the altar of Cru Beaujolais. Gamay is in fact the only grape allowed to be bottled within the Cotes du Forez AOC. No white is produced here – only red and rosé. And like Beaujolais, the best vineyards within the appellation are planted on decomposed granite, though there are outcroppings of volcanic rock scattered throughout as well.

Climatically, the region is warmer than other parts of the Loire Valley and is more similar to Beaujolais and Macon. However, nights are cool, summers do not get too hot over an extended period of time and frost is always a risk in the spring time. And the grapes are grown at an altitude of 400-600 meters which contributes to already high acidity levels and focused, clean and sometimes under ripe fruit flavors...

In a world that is becoming flatter and more homogenized by the moment, I often turn to what I think most accurately represents what’s still great about the world we live in – a great bottle of wine that loudly expresses its sense of place. Without firm roots somewhere, what’s the point? One of the first Old World wines that turned me on to terroir, sense of place, ‘somewhereness’ or whatever else you want to call it was the 1989 Chinon ‘Les Picasses’ from Olga Raffault. I was lucky enough to stock a vertical of Raffault’s wines on the list at Stage Left in New Brunswick. This was before I started selling wine on the street and before I ever imagined that I would write a blog or be hired to teach others about what I thought makes wine great.

I didn’t know it then, but the ’89 ‘Les Picasses’ was one of the first ‘real’ wines I ever had – free of the heavy hand of interventionist winemaking that unfortunately crafts the majority of wines in the marketplace today. Louis/Dressner was, and still is, the importer of the wines from Olga Raffault. In a sudden twist of fate, last year, I was lucky to start selling the wines from Raffault and others that Joe Dressner spent years bringing into the United States. In the course of the last 18 months or so, I shook Joe’s hand a couple of dozen times at trade tastings and at the David Bowler office. I never met him previously, but once I met him early last year and heard him speak passionately about his growers and their wines, it became clear to me instantly why I loved drinking his wines in the past – Raffault, Pepiere, Lunau-Pepin, Closel, and Texier...

Besides Bandol, perhaps the region I most anticipated visiting this summer when traveling with the David Bowler European Wine Bus Tour was Chablis.We had traveled through Rioja, Provence, the Rhone Valley, Beaujolais, the Cote d’Or and finished in Champagne and Paris.But no region lived up to what I had imagined through my studies more than Chablis.

We met our Chablis producer, Patrick Piuze at his winery (if you can call it that – more like a shed with a basement on a side street in downtown Chablis).After the usual tour of the ‘facility’ (at this point, ten days into the trip, If I saw another stack of used oak barrels I was going to head back to the bus for a nap), we took our bus as far as the winding roads in the vineyard would allow, then we finished the trip to the top of the Grand Cru vineyards by foot.

Though this is a piece on the place, not the producer, it’s worth communicating how Patrick introduced himself to those in the company who did not know him.To understand Patrick is to understand his path to winemaking.In his own words, “school didn’t like me and I didn’t like school.”After deciding to not follow through on college, Patrick bounced around from learning the basics of winemaking while surfing in Australia to working in a wine shop in Montreal to learning the craft of making world class Chablis from the best in the region – Brocard, Verget and Leflaive (the good Leflaive).Falling in love...

It occurred to me while I finishing Terry Theise’s book, Between the Wines, that I haven’t written much over the past few months. I am not one to care much about traffic on my site, but there might be more people visiting the Branch Dividian tribute page than The Wine Culture Project. Since I don’t make any money off of the site (and I am not trying too), the amount of hits I get on a daily basis is not important to me. What is important is that when people visit the site they enjoy and hopefully learn from what they read. And since I haven’t been writing much, many of you loyal readers haven’t been learning about my thoughts on wine’s sense of place. I apologize if you have been waiting, but here are a few reasons why I haven’t been writing much.

I’ve been working.

Even though it’s the summer, I have been hitting the street very hard convincing retailers and sommeliers to purchase the wines I represent. Though the economy is still in the tank, the wine economy has been resilient, if not stronger than in 2010...

Though they will be hard pressed to admit it, wine hipsters are bringing fairly obscure wine regions to prominence on restaurant wine lists and retail shelves. And friends of mine in the business have repeatedly cursed professional wine writers for shedding lights on regions such as Jura in France. The Jura, perhaps the smallest macro-region in France, is still relatively unknown to even serious wine drinkers. Sadly for the young and hip wine crowd, their secret is out. Though many students and collectors probably wouldn’t be able to name more than one or two subregions within Jura, more attention is being paid by boutique owners and sommeliers to the importance (and deliciousness) to winemaking areas west of Burgundy.

One of the regions that I have studied and have enjoyed drinking is L’Etoile. Located to the northwest of the town of Lons-le-Saunier, the appellation of L’Etoile, like the rest of the Jura, has a continental climate that enjoys warm summers and very cold winters. Though summertime temperatures can be similar to or warmer than Burgundy to the west...

Though I am not trying to rush the seasons, the 72 degree and breezy morning here in New Jersey is making me think of college football, apple cider and a light sweater – all hallmarks of fall, my favorite Cornas drinking season. However, summer is nowhere near over as I am heading down with friends to the Water Club in Atlantic City to have daiquiris poolside and take a day to enjoy the sun. In anticipation of not wanting to write tomorrow, here is your Friday Five a day early.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and remember, abandon the ordinary and pick up a bottle of something spectacular.

-John

I’ll Take the ’96 Veuve Cliquot, Please

This week, in her series Vintage America, Talia Baiocchi writes about the history wine lists as she focuses on wine lists that appeared before the turn of the 20th Century. Historical documents fascinate me. And those that focus on the importance of wine on our cultures past doubles down on the fun factor. It comes as no surprise that Sherry, Champagne, Bordeaux...

Over the past couple of days I have been reading a few blogs that are dealing with a topic that often becomes, like so many political issues dominating the headlines, heated and after awhile, tired and pointless. The galvanizing issue is a simple one – the importance and validity of wine writer’s scores for popular wines. As many of you know, the backbone of publications like Decanter, Wine Spectator, Wine and Spirits and The Wine Advocate is the scoring system that its paid critics use to recommend wines to the public. What is often overlooked by collectors, retailers and the average wine drinker is the writer’s informative and educational prose describing vintage and place, but that’s neither here nor there. Most people read these magazines and pay a premium to access their websites in order to chase down...

I hope you are staying cool as an incredible heat wave is gripping most of the country. I, for one, am on my way down to Ocean City, Maryland with some friends and I plan on staying cool with the ocean and frosty beverages. This weekend looks like it is turning into the perfect opportunity to drink crisp, vibrant white wines from regions such as Muscadet, Txakoli, the Mosel or northeast Italy. Either way, remember to grab something interesting and pace yourself!

Below is this week’s edition of the Friday Five – five stories that you might have missed this week. It has been a few weeks since the last installment, but a couple of weeks in Europe and a couple catching up with work have taken their toll. Anyhow, without further adieu, the Friday Five!

A New Santa Cruz

On Sunday, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jon Bonne dives more deeply into relatively unknown vineyards areas within the Santa Cruz Mountains. Though the region turns out world-class Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir...

It goes without saying that almost everyone you know, including yourself, has been affected by cancer in some form. Perhaps you have lost a neighbor,friend, loved one or have helped support those in a time of need. I have lost family and friends to this disease, while also supporting those closest to me, including my mother who stood up to her affliction nearly five years ago and kicked it straight in the teeth. Many victims and families are not as fortunate and they need as much help as they can get in both fighting the disease in the hospital and receiving support along the way from organizations whose sole purpose is to work towards a cure.

And on August 20th and 21st, my wife, a group of friends and I will be participating in the LIVESTRONG Challenge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lance Armstrong started LIVESTRONG after he nearly lost his life to cancer and since its inception, the organization has raised millions of dollars in the fight for a cure as well as providing support for those during treatment. Each year, Lance hosts Challenges throughout the country and this year, I will be running a 10K on Saturday, August 20th and then riding the 45 mile bike course on Sunday, August 21st. Some members of the team will also be pushing themselves along the 100 mile course.

Our team, Kramerica Industries, has been participating in the Challenge for a few years now and we have received overwhelming support from family, friends and strangers along the way. Many of you know me through The Wine Culture Project and perhaps we have never met in person, but have chatted via Facebook, Twitter or other forms of wine-related social media. And for those of you who have had a glass of wine with me over the years, you know that I have a fairly care-free and relaxed love for life and those around me. However, many lives, both in and out of our circles have their lives unfairly interrupted by cancer and these people need our help. Chances are one day some of us will be in the same position. Hopefully that day never comes, but for many it has. And that’s why our team is taking the same attitude we have here at The Wine Culture Project with us to the Challenge – it’s a day of love, sharing and community with one sole purpose in mind – saying fuck you to cancer. It’s a weekend to help those during the most difficult moments of their lives, while also remembering those who were taken from us far too early in their lives.

I hope that you can donate any amount to our team – 100% of your donation goes to LIVESTRONG – bikes, hotel, time and energy are all paid in full by the participants. And if you are in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania on August 20th and 21st, let us know – it’s going to be a great weekend as we push ourselves to our physical limits while also have a glass of wine or two at the end! I will be riding in memory of my godmother, Margaret West and college friend and the second biggest Yankees fan I knew, Ryan McGrath*. And I will also be riding for the most important survivor of them all – Beth Reinwald, my mother and biggest fan.

*The Fuck You Cancer t-shirt above was made for Ryan while he fought his ass off against Leukemia. They are made by close friend, Christina Contaldi and are available for purchase at her website linked to the shirt. All proceeds will go towards Livestrong.